


Baby makes a team

by mintedeer



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Age Regression/De-Aging, Cute, Fluff, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Korean Keith, NB Pidge, Protect them all, Team as Family, Trans Keith (Voltron), baby Keith, basically fluff, i want them all to be happy okay, just little instances of them being a cute family, just pure, not talked about as much however, team voltron looking after a baby keith, these kids are too good too pure
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-08-04
Updated: 2016-10-27
Packaged: 2018-07-29 06:26:15
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 8,674
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7673539
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mintedeer/pseuds/mintedeer
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After a suspicious battle with the galra, the team aquires some odd plants to use in their cooking. Little did they know it would affect one of their paladins so much. <br/>Long story short? The team now has a tiny red paladin on their hands and they have no idea what to do.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Don't trust the space artichoke

**Author's Note:**

> I was thinking about how Keith was an orphan so I was wondering if he had really nice family to take care of him as a baby or something, so I decided to write a baby au where the voltron team takes care of a little baby keith! Hope you enjoy it!!

Keith grit his teeth, tightening his grip on his sword. His chest expanded and contrasted as he took rapid breaths. He tilted the side of his head to wipe the sweat from his face onto his shoulder half heartedly. The burning sensation filled his throat and surrounded his eyes.   
      Meanwhile the training bot merely stood poised, prepared to attack at any given moment. It's blank eyes stared back, completely unfazed at his obvious exhaustion. It held its sword out, pointed directly at him.   
      He could feel his frustration growing as he swiped and dodged, unable to get the upper hand. This was getting ridiculous, no matter how hard he tried he couldn't get past level 4.   
He was a paladin for christs sakes why was this so difficult?  
    His thoughts were cut short from the alarms that blared throughout the castle.   
"End training sequence!"

Jumping to the other side of the room, he grabbed his jacket and promptly headed out the door. There was a tight knot forming in his gut, making him anxious. He had skipped lunch and decided to train, trying to ignore the cold feeling seeping into his fingertips. Now the alarms were sounding loud, lights flashing in the halls to alert them of an emergency. A name entered his thoughts, making him sprint faster towards the suit room.

_Zarkon._

He slipped his suit on, feeling the familiar tightness around his chest. He checked in the tube reflection to make sure the seams didn't show through the spandex like suit.

_Seriously though what are these things made of? They’re so form fitting._

As he approached the control room, he saw his fellow paladins racing through the doors themselves. Recently he was getting closer to his teammates, sometimes giving a smile or a laugh in return for their presence. The walls he spent years building relented a little, allowing him to become closer and care for them more. He wasn’t completely trusting though, since years of solitude aren't easy to wipe away. He still locked himself away some days, ignoring the way they sometimes stared at him in disbelief when he didn't understand a pop reference. But he would lay his life down on the line for them, for his family. Voltron was all he had and he would sell his heart and soul for them, even Lance.

He was broken from his train of thought by Allura addressing them in a loud voice, accent soothing their frayed nerves.

“There’s a fleet of Galran ships near one of the local planets, there shouldn't be that many however, so I need you to take them out. Will you be alright?”

“I can assure you princess we'll be fine, nothing we can’t handle right?” Shiro turned to us, a grin splitting his face.

“Yeah princess, we’ll do just great, especially with the great Lance here!” He wiggled his eyebrows, pointing a thumb to his puffed chest.

Of course groans of frustration erupted thanks to Lance’s shenanigans.

“Paladins, I trust you to do your best”

Everyone nodded, giving her confirmation, a silent promise. They immediately headed for their lions now, sliding into their familiar seats. A presence accompanied them inside the lions, warm and wild. Lionesses, waiting for a fight.

“Quick this time, we go and destroy understand?” Shiro's voice broke through the communications.

Everyone gave a form of confirmation, from excited yes’s to grunts. That was just how they worked, different but synched. They headed out of the hangers, lions cutting through endless space. A line of color, hope for the universe. That’s what voltron was, a light at the end of the tunnel of darkness and destruction. However as they approached the scene, the light flickered. Uncertainty was immediately voiced by Pidge, nervousness pouring into their words.

“This looks like more than just a few Allura”

“They’re right! What happened to the small fleet? This is an entire army of ships!” Lance gripped his controls tightly, unsure about this mission now.

Shiro furrowed his eyebrows, slowing his lion down to a stop. His eyes roamed over the large amount of ships headed towards the small aqua colored planet. Gritting his teeth he shook his head, making a hard decision.

“We can do this.”

“You’re kidding me Shiro! There’s too many we can’t fight that many! It's just suicide I can’t believe you want us to go ahead” Lance leaped out of his chair, face in the communicator.

“Shiro you have to think about this, we can’t risk losing anyone on the team” Pidge reached out for the communicator, pulling themselves closer as well.

“Uh, yeah I have to agree with them here, this does not look like a good idea” Hunk leaned back, resting his head on his chair.

Keith bit his lip, resting his eyes on the scene in front of them. He didn’t say anything, but he felt his stomach churn at his earlier feelings.  He wanted to fight, to take down Zarkon but this could be too much, and his gut told him it wasn’t a good idea. For once he may have been on the other side of Shiro, he didn’t think this was a good idea either.

“Shiro I don-” Suddenly he was cut off by a blast that nearly hit him, barely grazing his side.

He turned in surprise, his breath caught in his throat. He looked at the rest of his companions, watching their surprise morph into concentrated anger.  He understood that meant they would fight then. He swallowed, feeling his lungs tighten at the situation but didn’t yield. He rolled his shoulders, looking straight ahead and pushed forward on his controls. He wanted to get this over with, they had already begun shooting so no one had any objections to his impulsiveness. Better yet, he was quickly followed by the others, shouts of frustration echoing through the coms.

Jumping on and in between ships he blasted through and let them take each other out. He was shot at, but swerved behind a row and let them explode behind him as he continued to dodge them. He was fast but he could feel his mistakes begin to catch up to him. He ignored it however, he didn’t have the time to dwell on such things. Instead he continued, pushing his lion further and letting himself go under the familiar roar of her spirit.

A sudden panicked cry caused him to make a sudden swerve, spotting pidge surrounded by a bunch of Galra. He knew they could perfectly make it out of there, but with everyone on edge he knew today would be tougher than usual. So without thinking he dove in slamming into them, taking one into reds mouth and attempting to crush it. It flew a few feet away and as he heard the sound of more blasts he watched Pidge avoid them, not as neatly as him or lance. (Not that he would ever admit it to the latter) He grinned, checking behind them to see if any others were coming to attack. He spotted Lance and Hunk tag teaming ships, Shiro finishing off others not far. The ships were diminishing but something felt off. Most of the Galra weren’t coming after them, they kept their distance and only chose to blast them. It felt more one sided than anything, until the ships started retreating.

_Something isn’t right here._

They looked at each other in confusion, before deciding to cautiously head down to the planet.

“Be careful this could be a trap” Shiro warned sternly.

Nodding solemnly at him they agreed, understanding the situation.

As they approached the planet they saw luscious plants and exotic forests. Similar to earth except everything was a bright aqua, creating a pretty glow. Though they wouldn’t quite trust any of the food if it was made from these plants. Landing in a patch of clear ground, they saw villagers approach them. Smiles lit up their faces as they thanked them for helping them out. Hunk seemed on edge as well as Shiro and Pidge, eyeing some of the aliens. Lance however, much to the others misery began to smile and try to appear charismatic. This did remove some of the tension in the air, and soon they discussed a few things with them.

They explained how they were planning on siding with Allura, despite not being able to fight as much they could help with supplies and support them. Zarkon wouldn’t gain much from them so they didn’t know why he wanted to attack them. Territory perhaps? None of them could figure it out, but as time passed they decided it was time to head back to the castle and report to the princess. Before they left though, they were given a few crates of their local edible plants.

“Coran’s gonna get a kick out of this” Lance snorted as he hauled one of the crates into blue.

“Not if I get to the kitchen first” Hunk shivered, hoisting another onto his shoulder to deposit in yellow.

“Guys don’t be rude to him, he means well”

“Fine, _dad.”_ Pidge teased

Shiro began to turn red at the term, spluttering and denying being their father. He was the same age as them afterall.

“Yeah but you still act like a dad” They raised their eyebrows

“I bet he goes to home depot in his free time” The green and blue Paladins high five, giggling feverently at his expense.

_Poor Shiro. They’re not wrong though._

Keith grinned and lifted a crate into his own lion. He had his visor on and turned away so they wouldn’t see him laugh. His shoulders gave him away though,they were visibly shaking.

“Is THE Keith laughing?” Lance peered over at him.

“No. You must be imagining things, as usual Mcclain” He pulled a blank face, quickly turning towards the others calmly.

“Don’t call me that!! It’s Lance!” He yelled, no bite in his words however.

“More like McLane, stay in your lane loser. I’m heading back to the castle, see you” He turned, ignoring Lances screams behind him and sat at the controls.

“Ready to take off Red?” He pulled, letting Reds warmth engulf him.

\----------

As the castle came into view he slowed down, landing as softly as he could despite this being a high tech ship. He didn’t need to cause unnecessary trouble. He took the crate of weird plants, if they could be called that, and headed towards the kitchen to see if he could find Coran. Upon arriving and seeing the familiar carrot haired man he sighed and set the crate down on a table.

“Hey Coran, we got some weird plants from that planet you told us to defend.”

He hesitantly explained.

“Oh! These are magnificent! They’re a rare local plant, Qhikkois!”

“Sorry what?” He completely missed the pronunciation on that.

“They’re these flower like plants that you can eat! They’re quite popular back home, Allura enjoys them. They can be eaten raw as well, would you like some?” Coran held out a leaf to him, excited.

Keith really wanted to say no, but the look on the man's face told him he couldn’t do so without hurting his feelings and he didn’t wish to do so. So he took the thick aqua colored leaf and bit into it. It was watery and a bit plain but tasted kinda like an artichoke? Space artichoke it was. He let a surprised noise though, making the older man smile in delight.

“It’s good isn’t it! Why I think I’ll make a soup for the princess with this, she’ll be so happy.”

The red paladin smiled faintly, shaking his head and heading towards his room to change. He wanted to slip into his familiar tee shirt and jeans. The familiar weight of his knife on his belt. Placing his hand over a panel next to his door, it opened with a small huff of air. He immediately slipped into his regular attire, letting out a relieved breath. He felt more comfortable with his jacket sheltering him from the cold air in the castle, as well as not worrying about his binder showing through his suit. He knew Pidge’s has never shown but he couldn’t help but worry. He walked over to grab his suit so he could go return it to the tubes, but felt a piercing pain in his stomach. He ignored it, though faltering slightly.

He exited his room with a soft whir, clutching his shirt over where his stomach was. The pain began to increase though with each step and as he reached the room where the others were putting away their fighting wardrobe he started to sway slightly.

_Whats going on…_

_Why does my stomach hurt so much? That’s what I get for trusting some weird space artichoke._

He saw Shiro approach him and saying something but he couldn’t make out what he was saying. His eyebrows furrowed in concern though and held out a hand to steady him but it was too late. Keith felt his face meet the cold metallic floor as he fell, fading into unconsciousness.


	2. To family

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Im sorry this one's so short! It's been a messy week for me honestly, but I think i'm going to try to update this story every couple of days if i can? Ill try, but your support so far has been lovely and I'm grateful for it

Allura was pacing around the control room, thinking about today’s battle, wondering what had happened exactly. Shiro had given her a report on what occurred before heading down to change out of his armour. The Galra were definitely acting suspicious but they had no clue as to why. They would have to wait and find out, though she didn’t have a good feeling about it. She was sure her paladins didn't feel all too well about the situation either. They were all so nervous before the battle who knows how frayed their nerves were now.

However when four panicked paladins ran into the room with a ball of Keith's clothes she had nothing but confusion in mind.

“May I ask why you four are carrying Keith’s clothes?” She questioned as she took a few steps closer to the group.

“These aren’t just his clothes! Look it’s Keith!” Lance gestured to the bundle in Shiro’s arms. 

“I can’t be fooled by your earthly jokes so easily young paladins, though I would enjoy an explanation” She placed her hands on her hip sternly, waiting for someone to speak.

“Lance is right princess, I- look okay!” Pidge moved some of the bundles of clothing to reveal wide violet eyes.

Allura was silent for a solid minute, staring back at the tiny figure looking at her. A pair of bright violet eyes accompanied by a small pout lied still in front of her. The small baby was pale, with long black hair and almond eyes. It definitely closely resembled their fellow red pilot, but this baby was female?

“Why is this baby female? Why is Keith a baby? I have a lot of questions at the moment” Allura reached forward in curiosity.

The baby immediately leaned away however, unsure as to who she was. This caused Allura to lean back, offended. The others suppressed a smile, it was a funny scene afterall. 

“How about we go talk about this in the common room princess?” Shiro suggested, feeling uneasy about this.

Allura nodded, still staring at Keith who stared back just as wide. Even when they walked down the hall, Shiro couldn’t help but notice him curling up on himself, looking around calmly. He didn’t fuss in Shiro's arms, but earlier when Lance first tried to hold him he feverently squirmed almost falling. 

_ Guess even as a baby he didn’t like Lance as much.  _

Once they all sat down on furniture, an excitable Coran burst into the room talking about the plants they found on the odd planet. 

“Even Keith enjoyed it! Speaking of Keith where did the young boy go?” The orange haired man looked around the room, his eyes settling down on the baby in Shiro’s arms.

“That isn’t Keith by any chance?” He slowly spoke the words, lifting a feeble finger to point towards the baby. 

Everyone gave a collective nod, except Allura who gave him a weird look.

“How could you tell that was the red lion’s pilot Coran?”

A nervous look suddenly crossed his face, and he reached a gloved hand to scratch at the back of his neck.

“You see, I may have told him to try a Qhikkois leaf raw? I didn’t think anything bad would come of it! Alteans eat it raw after all.” He waved his hands slightly, trying to pacify the princess who looked angrier and angrier by the moment. 

“Coran you do realize only Alteans and the locals on that planet are unaffected by the raw plant!? Of course something would happen to Keith if you gave him Qhikkois!!” She yelled, taking a deep breath to try to calm herself down. 

Shiro felt Keith push back at the loud exclaims, looking down to see a panicked whine escaping his downturned lips. Large eyes squinting as he continued to fuss, and he had to readjust his hold on the tiny Korean child. He huffed but never cried, making small noises to show discomfort.

“Um, I hate to interrupt but-” He pointedly looked at the small bundle of nerves that continued to squirm at the noise level.

Allura covered her mouth, showing alarm and giving them a sheepish look.

“My apologies young Keith.”

“So like is anyone going to explain why Keith looks like a girl though?” Lance blurted, hands in a questioning gesture.

“He’s right, I mean I guess  we know why Keith’s a baby but why the long hair and stuff?” Hunk raised an eyebrow, hand mimicking Lance’s gestures.

Pidge bit their lip, thinking about the times that they had seen Keith run his hands over his armour the same way they did while checking their binder. 

_ Could it be… _

“Shiro is Keith like me?” Pidge tentatively reached a finger out for Keith to grab. 

Shiro raised his eyes in surprise,looking down at the floor in thought. Taking a deep breath he muttered a quick apology to their new tiny member. The baby stared back with blank eyes, turning back to look at Pidge’s outstretched finger.

“Keith has never been very, open I guess you could say. He may wholeheartedly care about the team but he will never come to any of us with his problems. He doesn’t know how to really converse with people either, as you guys have seen by his lack of presence sometimes. He means well I swear, he just doesn’t- he’s used to solitude and we’re family to him, but even so. He doesn’t know how to tell us things no matter how important they are and well-” Shiro sighed, lifting Keith a bit higher to kind of show what he meant.

“Long story short Keith was a girl and he never told us?” Lance never one for his choice in words of course.

“Lance you never do think before you talk do you”  Hunk rubbed a hand over his face.

“Lance means, Keith is trans and it just never came up at the right time?” Pidge looked at the baby, breaking a smile as he grabbed the finger they offered earlier. 

“Yeah, pretty much” Shiro exhaled, the tuft of white hair on his head blowing upwards.

Although the man was close to the same age as some of them, he seemed to age severely. Under the white light of the castle, you could see the bags under his eyes, eyebrows creased in concern. The others stared at each other, having a silent agreement and nodding. 

“So how about we take care of him, like a family?” Hunk tentatively spoke, turning his hand to gesture at Keith.

Shiro raised an eyebrow, asking for further explanation.

“He didn’t really have family growing up right? So what if we were like a family to him, taking turns caring for him until he's bigger?” He continued.

“Yeah! Like a sort of bonding exercise!” Pidge turned towards Allura, eyes wide and pleading

Allura just shook her head, smiling at the team's hopeful faces. How could she deny them this opportunity, plus this might help them figure out how to connect to Keith more in the future. Afterall she too worried about the lack of communication between him and the team.

“Don’t look at me, I’m not the one holding the baby” She laughed and looked at Shiro.

Shiro looked at the faces of his teammates and then down at Keith who was currently playing with Pidges hand. 

_ Keith must trust Pidge more than he let’s on if he's this playful. Why not let them, what could they do after all, they can't leave him like this. If they didn’t support him at a time like this then how could he trust us. _

His thoughts wandered as he contemplated, images of a young boy with curled lashes and furrowed eyebrows. Wearing an orange uniform and eyes full of distrust, flying in ships. Memories from a time that seemed eons ago, before this all started. Shiro had been the only family Keith had, and he’d be damned if he didn’t keep caring for the younger boy.  

“How about you let us be your family this time huh 아기 ?” He spoke towards the young Korean. 

Keith's head immediately turned at the sound of his mother language, his eyes widening and the effect was almost immediate. A smile broke on his face, and the words that spilled from his small mouth nearly broke the poor man.

“ 아빠 ”   _ Dad. _

The others stared wide eyed at the scene, shock and awe on their faces. They watched as the older paladins worried face broke into a wide smile as he lifted Keith closer to him. They had never seen either of the two so joyful before, it almost felt too intimate. However the heavy air lifted immensely.

Hunk being a saint himself, walked over to Shiro and Keith and hugged them, soon followed by Pidge,Lance and Coran. 

Allura raised her eyebrows but joined once she saw how happy they were. 

“To family?”

“To family.” 

 

.

  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Translation notes:  
> 아기 -means baby in Korean  
> 아빠 - means dad in Korean  
> (sorry if I made any mistakes, I don't speak the language but please let me know if I'm wrong)


	3. Keith is chaotic evil

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Someone stop keith

The others quickly realized that unlike some babies Keith wasn’t a bawler. They noticed that when they made too much noise or scared him he would huff and puff his cheeks out. Yet, he never let out a wail or piercing scream that let them know how upset he was. They also noticed that he chewed on things constantly, like remotes and anything he could get his little hands on. They nearly had a panic when they found him chewing on some cables they had in a storage room.

“He really enjoys chewing on things doesn’t he?” Lance reached out to carry the little bundle of red. 

Coran had managed to sew some earth like baby clothes for their smaller member, and of course he made them red. His excuse was that he could be seen everywhere he went since they always managed to lose him. Except for Pidge and Shiro of course, somehow Keith would behave perfectly around them. He wasn’t an awful baby though, that wasn’t the problem. The issue was that for a baby he was very quiet and oddly independent. 

_ Figures that resident solitary would be like this as a baby.  _

He didn’t want to be cradled by Lance though, predictably since Lance nearly dropped him the first time he tried to hold him. 

“Fine be like that, one day you’ll be begging to be cradled in my arms!” Lance huffed,crossing his arms and turning to face away from the baby. 

“Lance stop harassing Keith!” Shiro called from the kitchen.  

Lance gestured wildly to the pouting child and back to himself, stuttering indignantly. 

“Why me??” 

“Because you’re the only one he can't stand, and that’s probably for a good reason” Shiro now stood at the doorway, leaning against the frame. 

“It’s probably ‘cause he almost dropped him, I wouldn’t let Lance carry me either with that kind of history” Pidge supplied, popping in with a smug smile.

“I’ll let you know i'm great with kids, mis hermanitas me quieren mucho!” his pride was desperately on the line now. 

“Yeah well that doesn’t matter because this baby isn’t having it so” To emphasize their point they easily scooped the crimson clothed paladin into their arms.

“I still don’t get why he likes you more than me.” 

“Probably because i'm not always cooing in his face and trying to make him do stupid things” Pidge looked down at the now still baby. Violet eyes looked straight into their own, a silent agreement.

“He even agrees with me, see?”

“He stares at everyone like that! That doesn’t even mean anything okay?” Lance needed a lifeline at this rate.

Keith ignored everyone's yelling, stuffing his tiny fist in his mouth anxiously. His eyebrows furrowed at the cuban who was now leaning awfully close, and soon he seemed to be fed up. He made a small huff noise and reached out to place his drooled hand on Lances cheek, shutting him up quickly. 

Pidge let out a cackle, watching the blue boy look at Keith in horror, and reaching up to his wet face. Soon a loud groan rang throughout the castle as lance cried out in disgust. Even Shiro began chuckling, his shoulders rising and falling at a joyful rate.  

“You guys are awful!” Lance ran to the bathroom to wash spit off.

Pidge smiled smugly, giving Keith an approving nod.

“Even as a baby he deals with Lance’s antics huh?” Hunk spoke up behind them, wiping his hands on a towel.

He tickled Keith's neck, watching as he huffed, trying not to laugh.

“Aren’t you a stubborn little booger?” They teased, bouncing him up more to get a better hold on him. 

Shiro snorted, watching the kid turn away and burrow his head into their shirt. 

Pidge craned their neck, trying to get a better look at his face until it dawned on them. 

_ Keith really didn’t weight much did he? He was really small too. _

“Hey Shiro? Keith doesn’t weight much does he?” Their eyebrows furrowed in concern. 

Shiro mirrored their expression, pondering it for a moment before he reached out to hold him himself. When he secured Keith in his arms he lifted him a couple times, testing the weight in his arms. 

“No… He doesn’t? He’s actually really small too, even for his age”

“That’s what I was thinking, hey Hunk?” They took the baby and quickly held him out for the yellow paladin to hold.

Hunk, understanding what they wanted him to do, took the small baby into his arms, rocking him a few times. His eyebrows rose, pinching together in worry.

“You’re right, he’s not heavy enough. Hey little guy we need to feed you more don’t we?” He smiled at the staring baby. 

Shiro quickly decided that he would talk to Keith about eating enough when he was back to normal. For now though he decided that they would all keep tabs on his diet while he was in this form.

“Lets all make sure he eats enough for now, I’ll talk to him when he's back to normal.” Shiro places a hand on each of their shoulders.

The two nodded, silently assuring him that they would care for their teammate.

Hunk looked down again, only to find Keith staring widely at everyone. He wondered why he would stare so much, but then again he's a baby.

_ Babies are weird. _

“Shiro, do you know why Keith stares at people like this?” Hunk moved his head downwards, gesturing to him. 

Shiro didn’t really have an answer to that in all honesty, though he did find it odd. Keith’s always been aware, but this was unnerving really. Almost like he expected or waited for them to walk away or something. He didn’t pay much mind to it however, not wanting to blow this out of proportion. So he simply gave him a shrug, shaking his head in a sort of apology.

The three sighed, knowing that it would be a complicated week. According to Allura the effects could last from 4 days, to a week and a half. This meant that they not only couldn’t form voltron, but that they were more vulnerable now. They’ve been camping out on a calmer side of the galaxy they were in, away from any sort of Galran troops. It was quite a predicament but what could they do, it was just a matter of time and avoidance. Luckily Keith wasn’t too complicated to watch over, other than the missing incidents. How he managed to slip past 5 of them was anyone's guess, but it caused quite a scene the first few times. Pidge had found him in the vents of their room once, on Lance’s watch of course. Somehow he knew where to find them sometimes, it was easier depending on who it was though. Allura had mentioned something about bonds and how strong they were between each person. 

This made training harder however, since Keith kept escaping Coran to go to train himself. Once when Allura was training with them she had to block a robot from hurting him. It was almost comical, looking back on it from now. The way she ran faster than anyone had seen her run, diving and kicking the robot out of the way. It flew straight into the border of the ring, electrifying it and blowing a fuse. She had picked Keith up hastily, panicking and checking to make sure he was okay. Fretting over his hair and such, while he just stared at her calmly.

“Why are you like this?” Lance had commented at the time. 

Everyone had agreed, even if they didn’t do so vocally.

Appearance wise, they had to fix some things since the first day of baby week. Coran had taken it upon himself to cut Keith’s hair, seeing as it would most likely make things easier for him. So now he had short hair ending just under his ears. It was soft, albeit a deep obsidian. Lance had tried to put a bow on it, but Pidge soon kicked him in the leg and Shiro hid it. The Keith protection squad Hunk had dubbed them, but soon it became everyone vs Lance. Lance kept trying to take pictures of Keith making faces at the space goo, but Coran snatched the camera, running to go hide it. 

That didn’t mean that no one took pictures of the oddball baby, but they just agreed that Lance shouldn’t have that much power. 

```````````

They all now stood in the training room, where they were to face the robots, each holding a weapon mirroring their own. One took a shot towards Lance, but the blue paladin easily dodged it. Pidge was soon pushing another out of the way, electricity flowing in their bayard. Back to back Shiro and hunk were circled by two more, piercing them with hands and shots. More soon arose and began to complicate the situation, slowly becoming faster and faster. 

“Hey Keith how about you watch me as I dish out robots huh?” Coran held the child in his Lap, keeping one hand on the controls.

What no one expected though was that he would reach over while Coran spoke directions into the mic for the next stage and soon the robots disappeared, leaving a flickering maze.

“Coran what’s happening!?” Lance yelled as he smacked into a wall.

Coran looked down to see two pairs of eyes look back at him, small hands on the controls.  

“Keith.” he whispered quietly.

The red paladin met his gaze with large violet pools, and proceeded to smack a hand on the button to his right. Four yells echoed in the training room as they fell through holes, similar to when they had trained with Allura when they first began.

“No, not today young one.”

Coran immediately grabbed the baby and pulled a switch, releasing the paladins from under and called for a time out through the microphone. 

He quickly walked out of the control room, heading down to the training room to meet up with the others. The instant he saw the four of them giving him looks he held Keith out.

“Please someone needs to watch him while I control the training sessions.” 

“You mean he messed with us??” Lance gave him the stink eye.

“Unfortunately, he's a smart one. Looked me dead in the eye as he pressed the buttons.” Shaking his head he deposited him into Shiro's arms. 

“Oh boy you are an evil little shit.” Pidge looked at the innocent face he gave them.

“Pidge language!” Shiro chastised. 

“Okay but look at him, he acts so innocent but you know what you did Keith.”

Pidge pulled his cheeks gently, making him huff in annoyance.

Keith made a whining noise, attempting to crawl up Shiro’s arm but failing due to the arm that held him still. 

“Hey guys do you think he’s chaotic evil or like lawful evil” Lance supplied.

“Chaotic” They responded along with everyone else.

Keith's only response was to blink as they all burst into laughter.

_ What a family. _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> mis hermanitas me quieren mucho- My sisters love me!


	4. Late night memories

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for being late,,, School is starting soon and ive been cramming in my summer work like a dink.

After today's earlier events, the team decided to head to their rooms for sleep. Of course since they now had to watch over Keith, one of them would take him with them and make sure he slept safely. Shiro had watched over him the first night, although hesitantly since he feared he would lash out on him with his nightmares. To his surprise however, he had dreamt of simulations and his early years at the garrison. Now it was someone else’s turn to take care of the baby.

“I think it’s my turn tonight” Pidge spoke, eagerly plucking the small paladin from Shiro's arms. 

Lance glared at Keith, half hiding behind Shiro and flicking two fingers between them in an ‘eye on you’ manner. After what they have deemed the evil baby incident, Lance had taken to giving him the stink eye. Not trusting a single move he made, considering how much he doesn't like Lance. Shiro caught sight of his shenanigans, swatting him in the arm and squinting at him.

“Lance, what did I say about harassing Keith?”

“He harassed me!!!” Lance cried.

Pidge tried to quell their laughter, but kept the smirk on their face as they covered the baby's ears. 

“How dare you Lance! You're going to upset the baby” They turned away from the sputtering blue boy, making a woeful noise.

Hunk, catching on had gone up next to them and covered Keith’s eyes with one hand, placing the other on his forehead.  _ Talk about dramatic. _

_ You people are evil.  _ Lance glared at the two, giving up and walking back to his room angrily.

“Bye little boy blue! Don’t forget your trumpet!” Pidge called out behind him.

“IT’S A HORN!” Lance screamed.

“Whoops” They shrugged and glanced at Shiro, whose head was in his hands.

_ Sorry old man. _

“Okay dad, so I take watch tonight” Shiro’s head snapped up at the name, red staining his face.

“Don’t call me that” 

“Keith called you that” they retorted.

“You know that’s different Pidge.” He gave them a look.

“Whatever you say space dad” They headed to the kitchen, looking for the bottle of ‘space baby formula’.

The team had asked Allura and Coran if they had baby food on Altea and they actually had something similar to baby formula. They quickly found a few supplies of it in the storage room, to their surprise. It was pretty convenient, though they will never know why it was there. Probably for Allura when she was a kid.

_ At least it's not expired. _

“Damn space aliens and their non expiring food. If only my jars of peanut butter at home could do that. I’d fucking kill for peanut butter.” Pidge smiled down sadly at Keith. 

“You don’t care about my language do you? You little sneak” They rubbed a finger under his chin as he huffed in a laughing manner.

_ Wonder if he’ll ever be able to laugh. _

“One day we'll get you to laugh, I wanna see that baby smile.” They tested the bottle to see how warm it was. 

Once it was at the right temperature they placed the bottle to the baby's mouth, giggling as he reached a small hand to try to hold the bottle on his own.

Small noises filled the room as he ate and Pidge walked down the dim halls, towards the ‘living room’ as they dubbed it. 

The lights were off, except for a small lamp they bought at a local planet, yellow light faintly lighting up the area. They sat on a chair, looking up at the ceiling wistfully, sighing deeply. Pulling their glasses off they shook their head a bit, to let loose side bangs. 

“I miss my family, back on earth.” They admitted, moving a black curl away from his forehead.

He furrowed his eyes, staring at them intently and they smiled a little. 

“Don’t worry, I won’t leave you.” a few beats,

“You’re pretty tame like this, a little easier to read huh. You probably can’t express things very easily, they come out aggressive. You meant to say i'm sorry and instead you yell out hatred. You wanted to ask, to find out the truth and now you’ve left them wondering where you are.” Warm tears pooled in their eyes.

“I just wanted to let mom know that i’d get them back, I still will but now she must think i'm gone too.” their voice broke on the last words.

They put a small thumb to his forehead, smoothing the creases between his eyebrows. He had given up on his bottle and they set it aside, playing with his hair. It was soft and silky, light and fluffy. Trying to distract themselves but soon hot tears dripped onto his hand. He had given them a surprised look, reaching a hand to theirs. Small fingers fiddled with larger fingers, a soft hand caressing rougher ones. Years of tinkering with metals and such left scars, fortunately some had faded and healed. Others however, not so much.

He pulled their hand to his chest, resting his chin comfortingly on it. 

“Thanks little red” They wipes their tears, feeling new ones spring up but ignoring them. 

“Did you know that sometimes in the morning, i’d catch Matt singing queen? It was like 5 am the first time it happened, and since i hadn’t slept all night I almost thought I had dreamt it. I saw the videos I took the once I woke up and turns out it definitely happened.” They giggled at the memory, continuing.

“So I got up to get water, and I hear some kind of screech like it was unreal. I thought he got hurt so I go check on him and next thing I know he’s dancing back and forth oddly while singing Bohemian rhapsody. I’d never heard a worse rendition of galileo galileo in my life. It was the best because when I asked him if he’d enjoyed himself at the dinner table, he just turned red and stuttered at me. My dad had a riot, he started teasing him and guffawing, mom was pretty giggly herself. It was a great time.”

Keith was quiet, head on their hand still and listened intently. His violet eyes gleamed at the smile they wore, seeming pleased at their joy.

“Once I had taken home 12 jars of peanut butter, it was the first time I got my hands on money that wasn’t from my parents. Someone paid me to fix their website theme and soon I had designed 29 blogs and had 150$ under my arm. I decided to splurge a little and got every kind of peanut butter I could. When my brother caught me shoving a dozen jars into the overflowing cupboard he started calling me nutter butter. He wouldn’t let the name go until pidge came along”

“My family was good when it came down to it, were strange but I wouldn’t ask for anyone else. Except now, I have another family and you’re part of it little red.” They placed their forehead on his, rubbing their noses together.

To their pleasant surprise Keith had started to smile, letting out a giggle. It was sharp and yet softened by cute hiccups. They smiled wide and laughed with him, in their own little glowing world. 

“Thanks for listening you little booger, but I think it’s time we go to sleep huh?” They cradled him in their arms, rocking him back and forth as he continued to smile at them. Footsteps sounded in the hall as they walked to their room, and Shiro peeked his head out at them. He spotted the smiles on both their faces, hearing little peals of laughter fade away. Shaking his head he smiled and retreated to his room, glad to see them feeling better. 

_ Maybe I am a little like a space dad.  _

“I’m not that old am I? Quit it Shiro before you give yourself an existential crisis” He shook his head and retired for the night.

_ That sounds like something a father would say. _

“Stop it Shiro” he whispered to himself.


	5. Bath bombs

When Pidge woke up, it was to the sounds of snickers and delayed clicking noises. They opened their eyes and blinked a few more times as they adjusted to their new members. However, the sight in front of them made them shoot up in alarm. Hunk and Lance stood over their bed, holding cameras and giggling mischievously. Keith was tucked under their arm and looking straight at the camera. His face was stuck between curiosity and confused alarm. They held back a snort at the poor babies dilemma and instead decided to point a glare at the two culprits.

“Did you have to? Goddamn idiots.” They shake their head and sit up, turning to pick Keith up. 

“Baby pictures are essential to a kids life! Right Hunk?” Lance excitedly tapped the back of his hand against his partner in crimes chest.  

Hunk gave a wide smile, closed eyes and soft dimples in his cheeks, nodding in agreement.

Pidge sighed and looked down at the baby who stared at Hunk’s smile with wide eyes. 

_ Guess he likes smiles huh. _

“Can you believe that these guys are gonna save the universe? Me neither.”

They shook their head teasingly as they scooped the staring kid into their small arms.

Thankfully he didn’t weigh much or else maneuvering would have been harder for them. So they kept their arms relaxed and set in place, feeling his warmth seep through their top. His head was curled up against the crook of their arm and a pale fist clenched the soft fleece jacket. It was actually very comforting, having a soft and peaceful presence with you. It made your chest bubble with warmth as well as something like fondness. 

Reaching the dining room they made their way to Coran for Keith’s bottle of space baby formula. (Will they ever not call it that?) Nah.

Their right arm jerks slightly as they shake the bottle and then test the warmth against the back of their hand.

“Good to go little red, eat up you monster,” They snort as they watch Keith raise his tiny fingers to uselessly grab the bottle.

_ Yeah I’m not letting you hold that yourself kid. _

Hunk called them over from the next room and they enter, while their red paladin continued to eat away at his bottle.

“So what's the plan for today?” They asked Shiro and the others.

“Well he should probably take a bath shouldn’t he?” Hunk chipped in.

“Yeah no we forgot to bathe him yesterday with all the commotion and babies need to stay clean.” Lance answered.

Shiro raised an eyebrow at the blue paladin, but only received a shrug in response. 

“I have younger siblings back home remember?” Lance spoke wistfully, feeling a wave of homesickness wash over him.

Quickly shaking it away though he blinked and concentrated on the current situation. However when he looked up he spotted a pair of familiar purple eyes staring intently at him. Keith had abandoned the bottle and now stared at Lance, an oddly blank look on his face. It wasn’t new but they never quite got used to it no matter what. So to take his mind off of how unnerving it was he just gave him finger guns and a smug face. This however didn’t do much and soon Keith began to softly squirm in Pidge’s arms, he reached out towards the blue paladin to everyone’s surprise. Lance stared at the baby with a slack jaw and wide eyes.

“Wow Lance guess you did something right for once?” Pidge teased, laughing as the red paladin continued to squirm.

Lance hesitantly reached out for Keith, supporting his neck and bringing him closer to his chest. He was warm and soft, very comfortable and still once he was settled in his arms. 

“Who’s cradling who in their arms now huh Keithy boy?” Lance smiled down at him.

Keith just blinked in response, holding a hand out and patting his chest erratically but gently. Reassuringly almost.

“Huh. Aren’t you a calm baby now niño?” He sighed,  bobbing him up and down playfully.

Shiro smiled at him and turned to go talk to the princess.

“How about you go help him wash up Lance?” He spoke over his shoulder as he turned.

Lance, who was too caught up in the way Keith was staring at him, didn’t respond quick enough. Pidge snapped at him and he looked up dazed, replying with a yes despite not having payed much attention to the topic at hand.

“Good to know”

Everyone decided to resume eating their food or work on something else since they didn’t have to worry about Keith for a little bit. 

Lance looked back down at his mini companion and smiled, rocking him slightly as he turned to go back to the showering area. 

He wondered if Keith ever had bubble baths as a kid, and suddenly he remembered something he brought with him from earth. When he left he had accidentally brought some bath bombs with him-dont ask. So he made a quick stop at his room and picked up one of the crumbly pink balls. It had little specks of blue in it as well, appearing like cotton candy. He smiled and held it down for Keith to see, wide eyes following the odd orb. 

“Time for a pretty bath huh?” He cood.

Lance would never admit it, but he adored Keith as a baby. He loved children in general and they reminded him of his little siblings. Also he would be lying if he said Keith wasn’t a very pretty guy, and absolutely adorable as a baby. So he might have been just a little salty when Keith gave him the pouty and angry sass. Tiny jerk.

As the pair reached the door to the bathroom, he flicked the lights on, letting the soft milky light fill the room. The walls were starkly different from the other ones, these had glazed peachy tiles, drastically different from the cold, grey metal.  It felt lighter, and made Lance feel a little closer to home with every inch he observed. It set off a warm flame in his stomach, slowly rising to wrap itself around his heart and making his smile wider. He couldn’t help the blissful sigh that escaped his lips while he set off to work. He sat Keith onto the counter, pulling his clothes off and holding the oddly quiet baby in his arms temporarily. 

“Hey, so wanna see this thing in action?” He snatched the bath bomb from the little ridges on the sink where he set it. 

He turned to Keith and watched as he looked at it curiously, before making eye contact with Lance and huffing as he turned away. 

_ He’s stubborn, even as a little gremlin. _

With a flick of his wrist and a bit of classic Lance flair, he let loose the chemical contraption and watched as it dipped down softly. It spun a bit, letting soft blue and pink streaks wade through the clear water. Lilacs soon joined, causing it to bob up and down as it spun back and forth. 

Glancing to his left, Lance spotted their little resident staring in awe, almost wanting to jump in from the looks of it. It brought a sly look to his face and he turned to let him see.

“Hehe, guess you’re excited after all huh kiddo?” He snickered.

Surprisingly he didn’t pay much mind to the taller blue paladin, instead opting to wiggle out of his grasp.

“Woah woah woah! Just one sec will ya?” Lance juggled the young child in his arms as he teetered and caught him safely. He blew out a relieved breath and bent over the tub, sitting him down in the glittery warm water. 

Small and chubby hands found themselves slamming into the water immediately, soaking both participants immediately.

Lance would never let you know whether the high pitched noise was him screaming, or the sound of his shoes squeaking as he took a step back immediately. 

“KEITH NO” he shielded himself from another onslaught of water as Keith hit the surface again. 

Ripping off his jacket, Lance slides down next to the tub and reaches in to splash water into his soft hair. It was silky, feather light strands falling flat against his warm and soft head. It made his eyes crinkle joyously in nostalgia and Keith’s almond eyes closed in a content manner as he lathered shampoo into his hair. A huff could be heard, not quite a laugh and not quite from anger. This continued until he was washed from his head to his tiny toes, which wiggled in the glittery foam. Lance rose up, leaning back to crack his back some before reaching over to drain the tub. They both watched as the colors moved around each other and eventually faded away into the drain.

A few seconds after that, Keith turned to Lance, raising his arms and softly demanding to be carried. He smiled and raised him, only to stand him and wrap a fluffy towel around him. He rubbed the soft material against his pale skin and got rid of the water droplets covering him. When he started drying his stomach, he heard a couple of huffs and then a small giggle. This caused his head to whip up in surprised and he continued until the peals of laughter bubbled around him. Keith was shaking and giggling, loudly. 

Lance could cry right now, the face of pure joy on the small paladin’s face tugged his heart strings and he started laughing as well.

“Haha guess you’re ticklish huh buddy?” Lance lifted him up and bounced him in his arms while spinning grandly.  

Their laughter only grew as they left the bathroom and headed to Lance’s room to dress him again. 

The sounds of their laughter caused the remaining paladins who had taken a break in training to peak their heads around the corner and watch the two smugly.

“I’m so telling Keith they bonded when he’s back to normal” Pidge snickered.

Shiro gave them a stern look, but couldn’t wipe the smile off of his face which ruined the effect. 

“Not without proof you don’t” He handed them a small camcorder like object they had built. 

“Thanks dad!” Pidge took it and ran out to find the two.

“How many times do I have to tell you not to call me that??” He rubbed the spot between his furrowed eyebrows in misery. 

Hunk placed a comforting hand on his shoulder and headed back to the kitchen for a snack

“Sorry dad” He smiled and sped up when he heard Shiro’s indignant squawk behind him.

_ At this rate I’m going to need to look for a retirement home.  _ He shook his head as he headed back to his room, defeated.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'M SO SORRY FOR NOT UPDATING,,,, school's been killing me and honors is a pain :'(((  
> But yeah I am back now, and working on the next chapter of baby makes a team and my other voltron story, weep little lion man!! I'm super excited ;3cc


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